


Airlocked

by Sharo



Series: Adventures from Hermitcraft Season 6 [1]
Category: Hermitcraft, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Admin powers, Dubious minecraft physics, Friendship, Gen, Grian near redstone, Grian's nicknames for X, Minor Injuries, Minor panic attacks, SeasonSixfinity, The redstone never wins, minecraft personas ONLY, season 6, so many nicknames, the JoeHills difference, voidwalker - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-02-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:35:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22813948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sharo/pseuds/Sharo
Summary: Grian goes snooping around Xisuma's base and finds more than he was bargaining for.
Series: Adventures from Hermitcraft Season 6 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1640074
Comments: 11
Kudos: 296





	Airlocked

Grian flew around the spikes of prismarine several times, both admiring the build and looking for a nametag inside, before finally diving down through the center into the dark base. The main floor was lit only by skylight and hidden lava above. He snuck around for an extra minute, before convincing himself that he was alone.

"Yes!" He pumped a fist, and checked his inventory again for his shulkers. "Pranking time!"

He snooped around the main floor first, checking out the little tucked away areas on the outer edges of the base. He nabbed a stack of cooked cod from a chest to munch on, before heading over to the neatly ordered shulkers along another wall. Trying not to break anything, he opened a couple of the shulkers, looking for something that he could subtly move around, or even use in his prank. An iron door off to the side caught his attention, and he skipped over, trying to see what was behind it. A press of the button and he was through, nosing through the ovens, distracted by the mass storage, and barely noticing as he moved from room to room down into the base.

Notification that Docm77 had reset the day cycle startled him out of another chest he was searching. "Already?" Reluctantly he looked around the room once more, spotting another door. "Ah, just one more room..."

This door led to a spiraling staircase, leading down into the depths of the base. Grian grinned. "Ooh, what's down here?" Running a hand along the wall, he followed the stairs down, idly considering what could be hidden so deep beneath the base. At the bottom landing stood yet another iron door, with a second visible on the other side. A stone button above the door set off a noteblock chime somewhere inside. Grian flicked the lever to the side of the door, surprised to see both doors open. "Trap?" Flicking the lever back and forth, both doors closed and opened together. He ducked inside, backing out as quickly. The doors held open, silently inviting him in. Entering again, he inspected the undecorated walls. "What are we hiding down here? Treasure trove, state secrets, ooh, maybe See-say-suma's diary!"

Not finding any obvious trap, he passed through the second door, entering what appeared to be a cozy sitting room. A lounge chair sat in a corner filled with bookcases, dimly lit by a covered sea lantern. A desk and lectern took up the back wall, covered in papers and a partially written book. Peeking in the lectern, Grian was disappointed to find only lines of what he assumed were code written down - certainly nothing that made sense to him. The third wall held a little kitchenette; oven, smoker, and a tea kettle. Shelving above them held a lone mug and several bowls of suspicious stew.

He poked at the books again on the bookcase, not really caring what the titles were. A partially hidden chest held several book'n'quills, along with a couple more written books. Disappointed he didn't find anything worth pranking, he ran his hands along the door frame.

"Ah hah! What do we have here?" A missed stone button blended into the acacia wood near the entrance.

He was trying to watch for hidden panels as he pressed the button. Instead, both iron doors slammed closed.

Grian jumped back from the door, kicking himself that he didn't think about traps. He could hear clicking under the floor, but saw no redstone components in the room. "So what's being powered? A timer maybe?"

He took a step back towards the door and froze. What appeared only as a shimmer along the walls was clearly a world barrier covering the former entrance.

"Oh, this can not be good." He pulled out his communicator, forcing down a mild panic from being essentially trapped. "It's fine, Grian. Just gotta tell Hex-say-suma that I've been snooping in his base, and may or may not have broken something. We all laugh and then I go home." Convincing himself to send the message took another minute.

<GRIAN>: Okay X-I-Zumba, you win

The quick response made him roll his eyes. 'Prank is on me, I guess.'

<XISUMA>: Awesome!

<XISUMA>: What'd I win?

Grian groaned in good humor, glancing up to see if he could spot X's nametag approaching.

<GRIAN>: Very funny, nice trap. Now let me out?

A growing feeling of uneasiness settled in his stomach, and he imagined the walls started hissing at him with laughter.

<XISUMA>: Let you out of where? I don't get it

<GRIAN>: The trap in your base. With the world barrier? I can't get out.

TELEPORT XISUMA TO GRIAN. TELEPORT FAILED

Grian rubbed his forehead, a headache growing between his eyes. It was getting harder to read the messages in front of him, the text kept swimming around and he had trouble focusing.

<GRIAN>: X?

****

Xisuma laughed at the first message from Grian, amused by his continuing evolution of off-kilter nicknaming. He bantered back a bit, wondering what the prankster was into now. But the comment about a trap puzzled him. What trap, and where? It had been a while since he had been in the pranking mood, and didn't recall any traps set recently, either by himself or for him.

His good mood soured with Grian's reply. The world barrier in his base? His Void-room? How did he even-

It was the thought of a moment to summon an Admin window and code in a teleport.

TELEPORT FAILED

Panic hit him hard. HE had been the one to program the anti-teleport in that room, to prevent accidentally bringing another Hermit into an unsafe area. 'How do I-'

Cutting off his own useless thought, he teleported himself to spawn instead, berating himself as he jumped into the portal back to the nether hub, then dashing over to his ocean base portal. 'Why did I not memorize my base coordinates?' Valuable ticks were lost waiting for portal transportation as he kept his eye on the chat, waiting and fearing to see a death message.

Stepping out of his portal, he raced for the back staircase. 'How long has he been in there? When did the barrier go up?' Miniature admin panels flashed in the corner of his visor, feeding him details of server status, commands running, background processes, locations of Hermits. Over and over he tried to cancel the barrier remotely, with no success.

He slipped the last few steps, letting the iron door break his fall. Looking through, he could see Grian on the other side, the world barrier between them.

"The button on the floor, Grian. Press it again!"

Grian's voice sounded no less panicked than his own. "I've already pressed it! Like, a million times!" His voice cracked, and what started as a cough quickly turned into gasping for air.

"No, no, NO!"

Xisuma watched as Grian fell to his knees, clutching his throat. The airlock was still cycling, the timing mechanism jammed from repeated signals. it wouldn't allow him to override it. The time it would take-

<XISUMA>: DOC, Joe - my base NOW!!

He couldn't wait for a reply. He had to save his friend. Not bothering with an admin panel, he grabbed all of the power he could, and tore at the void access point and world barrier erected to keep it contained. Around them surrounding chunks glitched in-and-out; keeping his focus on the barrier meant ignoring the dropping feeling in his stomach as the darkness of the void blinked in his peripheral vision. Void-static screamed as the barrier disintegrated, the backlash of power sending him flying back into the staircase as every piece of glass and pane shattered in the vicinity.

****

Grian gulped in air as he moved his hands from his throat to his ears. "Wha' is tha'?" he choked out. He couldn't hear Xisuma's response if he gave one, that scream still echoing in his head. He flinched back from Xisuma leaning over him, waiting for the yelling to start as soon as the world stopped. X's hands were gentle but unrelenting as he hauled Grian to his feet, leading him out of the room, and supporting him as they walked back up the long staircase to the main floor. Grian kept his head down, focusing on the steps. He could feel X starting to shake beside him, imagining that he could feel the anger radiating off of the Admin.

As they stepped into the main room of the prismarine base, Grian saw both JoeHills and Docm77, chatting amicably beside a dirt staircase coming down from the side portal. Both glanced over as they came into view, and Grian watched as their faces fell. 'I'm in for it now' he thought, and tried not to flinch again as they moved to intercept the pair.

"I can't believe you've broken another one, Zizumavoid." Doc's gravely voice greeted the pair.

Grian was surprised when Joe took his other arm, pulling him away from Xisuma's grip. "I've got Grian. Doc, you help X."

Xisuma took a step away from him, and nearly faceplanted into the prismarine floor. Doc grabbed an arm and lifted him easily back to his feet. Grian gasped as he finally looked at Xisuma. Along with the former glass floor of his base, X's faceplate was shattered. His helmet sat crooked, and a trickle of blood ran from his temple.

Doc was already moving them to the portal as he asked "Can you make it to the End?" Xisuma nodded without speaking, and the two were stepping through.

Beside Grian, Joe sighed and moved toward the skulker box storage system. Settling Grian onto a shulker, he began rooting through his inventory. Pulling out potions and food, he offered both to Grian.

Grian accepted the regen potion, wincing as he swallowed. Pain faded as it kicked in, and he tried to get a read on Joe. "So how badly did I mess up?"

JoeHills watched guardians fall behind the upper level walls, bouncing in and out of lava traps before perishing above the minecart tracks. "An omnipotent god may judge you on the paths you choose to take in life, but friends are there to support you on your travels through the twists and turns and pitfalls." He looked over to make eye contact. "Not knowing which path your travel has taken you, it would be remiss of me to pass judgement on the situation that myself and the good Doc came into." He sat down and put an arm around Grian's shoulders. "We're all friends here, and I'm at least half as good at listening as I am at pontificating, if you'd like to tell me your vision of events." Grian chuckled, and Joe beamed at him. "See now, that's the Grian we know and love. You don't smell like gunpowder, so it doesn't feel like a prank gone wrong."

"Ah, now, that's not entirely true." Grian ducked his head, remembering what had gotten him into this... whatever -this- was. Joe squeezed his shoulder, letting him take his time.

"I did come here to prank Ex-eye-suzuma, but then I got distracted by his base." He looked up again at the towering spikes of prismarine above them. "It wasn't anything big, but his base is so clean and neat, I was trying to find his, his," he searched for what he was trying to say. "His junk room, I guess. You know, where everything just gets stashed and builds up until you figure there's more of your inventory hidden in there and that's why you can't find anything when you need it?" Joe smiled and nodded. "So I got distracted, and ended up poking around where I shouldn't have been. But there were levers and doors, and it all looked so inviting." He folded his hands in his lap and stared at them, frowning at the remembered room, with its little kitchenette and easy chair. "I thought I had found a little hideaway, and was going to check out what kind of tea he had stashed away. There was a double door going into the room, I thought I had walked into a trap." He looked over at JoeHills, sitting still and listening intently to his narrative. "The door locked behind me, and a barrier went up around the room. I couldn't open the door, I couldn't break blocks through the barrier, and then all of the air went out." Grian shook his head, "I don't understand it, I have no idea what I triggered, or why that would happen."

He trailed off at the understanding that passed over Joe's face. "What did I do?" He tried not to whine, but only half-knowing what had happened to him, and the uncertainty of what had happened to Xisuma was gnawing at him, and he didn't know whether it was his fault.

Joe turned on his shulker-seat and fully wrapped him in a hug. Grian accepted it gratefully, hugging the other Hermit tightly.

"I hope that you'll forgive us, Grian, but it's probably partially our fault you ended up in that situation."

Grian tried to pull away, but Joe held onto him until he relaxed again. "You've been an integral part of our group for so long, we forget sometimes what you don't know. There are still secrets that you haven't uncovered that have been known for so long they're almost lost to time."

Grian sighed, and tried to laugh it off. "Like not sneaking up on Doc when he's working on redstone, or exploring Scar's builds without being prepared for the mobs everywhere because he doesn't spawn-proof?"

Joe tilted his head, and Grian could tell that he was watching for his reaction. "More like learning that your Admin is a Voidwalker, and the armor beneath his armor protects him from living in the overworld."

Grian blinked. "I thought Voidwalkers were a myth."

"A legend, maybe, but not a myth. I've met two others, but they tend to be loners I think. Either eventually driven mad by the void or abused and taken advantage of by malicious players." He leaned back against the shulker boxes, and looked away as he thought. "I think it wasn't until the first time I moved with the Hermits to our next world that I found out. Biffa had stopped by to see how I was settling in, and we got to chatting. X keeps a, a safe-room, I guess, I don't think I have ever asked what he calls it himself. Wherever he sets up his base, he has an area that he blocks off that can access the void."

Grian flinched, dawning realization of what he had inadvertently walked into. Joe nodded. "It may be homey to him, but most of us know to stay clear when we find his hideaway. Or ring the bell if he's turned off notifications."

"So that was a doorbell." Grian shook his head, starting to laugh now. "Well, I'm glad everything worked out, but that was a heck of a scare. I mean, not that I'll learn my lesson or anything."

Joe smiled as well. "Glad to hear it, Grian. It just wouldn't be the same otherwise."

Grian took a deep breath. "Well, I'm not sure what they're doing, but I think we should have some time to fix up Exha-say-sema's base a bit." He glanced at the neat rows of shulkers behind them. "Where do you think he keeps his glass?"

****

Entering the nether hub, both hermits rocketed off to the upper level, shooting down the west tunnel towards the End portal. Barely stopping for the corner, Xisuma flew right into the portal, going down to a knee while he waited for the teleport. Entering the decorated underwater hallway, Doc helped him to his feet and supported his weight for the last few steps to the End portal.

On the other side, Doc gave him a few moments to catch his first easy breaths as they spawned on the obsidian platform in the End. A quick scan reassured him that X wasn't severely injured past the broken helmet. When Xisuma could stand again on his own, he finally spoke.

"So what mess did our little prankster get into today?"

Xisuma shook his head. "He got into my void room and locked me out." Pulling off his helmet, he ran his fingers over the dent on the side. "I had to tear down the barrier in a hurry, and I'm afraid I may have broken more than I intended to." He wrapped his arms around himself, starting to shake again. "Jeez, I almost killed him, Doc!"

Docm77 placed a reassuring hand on his back. "It's not your fault, Zizumavoid. Did any of us think to warn him when we started this world?"

"I should have! I can't believe I didn't!"

"Hey now, we're all adults here." He lightly cuffed the back of X's head, startling him out of his panic. "Even if some of us don't act like it. He was snooping around, and that's always risky at most of our bases. If anything, it may put a damper on his pranks for a little while. The void may not be a fun way to die, but it wouldn't have been the first time, and he would have respawned normally."

Xisuma groaned. "It's still my responsibility to make sure Hermits are safe when they visit!"

"But it's over now. Joe is taking care of our prankster, and his bedside manner is way better than mine any day." He grinned at his friend. "Are you up to head back, or do you need parts for the helmet?"

Xisuma thought about it, studying the open faceplate. "The dent is easy enough, but I don't know what survived at my base. I should probably stop by a glass shop, then I'll need to pick up my tools." He was trying to calculate the timing needed but Doc interrupted him.

"You can borrow my tools, and I have plenty of glass by the piston bolt diorama." Doc started across the still make-shift bridge to the main End island. "Respirator still works, right?"

Xisuma nodded as he caught up to his longer strides, heading to the portal with him. "Yeah, I just panicked with trying to get Grian to a safe place away from the void. I'll have to resecure that area before anyone else goes down there."

"One thing at a time, Zizuma." Doc reminded him. "Let's get your helmet fixed and then we can worry about the base." He stopped at the portal. "Where's your spawn at?"

"I was out wandering with my bed on me, so I'll go to world spawn." He hesitated, then asked "Would I be putting you out to ask you to bring the supplies back to world spawn?"

Doc shook his head. "No problemo. Are you going to wait here then?"

"Nah, I'll do a bit of Admin work and see what I have in the workshop. And I can at least close the void access to my base from there while I wait."

"Ah." Doc gripped his shoulder in support. "Don't beat yourself up while I'm gone. I'll message you when I return." He turned and walked into the portal pool.

Xisuma paused for a moment, then shrugged, not bothering to put his helmet back on. At worldspawn, it took only a small amount of power to teleport himself to memorized coordinates at the bottom of the world.

The command block array hummed above his head, and the static of the void eased the last of his nerves. He brushed a bit of power over the structure, easily locating the set that covered his ocean base. Two were burnt out and blackened, confirming he'd torn down the barrier in a hurry. Xisuma disabled the void access point to the overworld, then dismantled the set. Carefully clearing the remnants of code from the burnt out blocks, he shattered each as he finished with them, dropping the broken pieces over the edge of the platform and into the void. Long habit had him checking his notes for coordinates and code strings again before re-casting into new blocks. He lifted them back into the array, settling them into place without activation.

Belatedly, he realized he didn't know if anyone was still at his base. Shaking his head at himself for already forgetting his helmet, he checked his enderchest for his mobile communicator.

<XISUMA>: Joe or Grian, are you still at my base?

<GRIAN>: Just finishing up, what ya need Ex-ey-sumatra?

<XISUMA>: Nothing, I'll take care of it later. Thanks.

<JOEHILLS>: We can clear out if you need us to. Just making some repairs to your floor.

<XISUMA>: You're fine, and thank you. You didn't have to do that, but I appreciate the help.

Xisuma left the command blocks as they were, unactivated, along with a sign reminding him to charge them the next time he was here.

Turning his attention back to his broken helmet, it was the work of a moment to loosen the front clamps for the faceplate and remove the remaining shards. Checking again that nothing else was severely damaged, he sorted through a chest of spare parts. 'I really should craft a second helmet' he thought as he pulled parts aside. 'Though I am glad it's not an issue that comes up often.'

<DOCM77>: I'm at spawn X

He replaced the parts to the side of the chest, grabbed the tool he would need, then teleported back to worldspawn.

Doc handed him a couple of glass panes and his toolkit. Placing a crafting bench, Xisuma meticulously cut and stained the glass for a new faceplate. Checking the size and fit, he accepted tools and materials from Doc as they were passed over to finish the repair. They worked in silence for several minutes, easy companionship between them. The work was complete before he was in any discomfort.

**JOEHILLS FELL FROM A HIGH PLACE**

Air displacement behind them preceded Joe's arrival at worldspawn. Xisuma slipped on the helmet and checked the seals before turning around to face him.

"Ah, just the fellow Hermits I was hoping to find."

Docm chuckled. "There are easier ways than tossing yourself off of buildings, Joe."

Joe laughed in that quiet way of his. "To be fair, I had intended to arrive by a more conventional way. But towering spikes of prismarine made of slabs and stairs are slippery, and fresh glass does not cushion one's fall very well."

<GRIAN>: Got your items, Joe

Still smiling, Joe looked to Xisuma. "Everything all right?"

Xisuma nodded. "Thanks for taking care of Grian. I believe I owe him an apology and an explanation."

Joe shrugged and began walking toward the Main Island portal, typing as he went. "Maybe not the apology, but I do believe he has a few questions for you that I could not presume to answer."

<JOEHILLS>: Thanks Gri, omw back

Doc and Xisuma followed him into the portal and through to the nether hub. Docm waved them on when they stepped towards Xisuma's portal.

"I'm turning in for the night, too much excitement for me. Zizuma, let me know if you have any problems with that helmet fix." He waved goodbye and disappeared into the shopping district portal.

Before they reached his ocean base portal, Grian appeared in it, nearly bowling Xisuma over as he bounced out into the hub. Barely stopping, he tossed several items at Joe - elytra, fireworks, and a yellow shulker box.

"Here's your stuff, hi X, bye X, I gotta go. See you later!" The last was shouted from a distance as he rocketed off to the upper hub, firework trail streaming behind him.

Xisuma watched, bemused as Joe quietly slipped his own elytra and mismatched armor on and stashed items in his inventory before taking his own leave.

"Good to catch up with you, Xisuma. We should do it again soon, though maybe without the destruction and almost certain doom next time." Before X could answer, he too, was gone and out of sight into the upper hub.

Xisuma stood by his portal for another minute, unsure if he was waiting for someone to return, or something else to happen.

He finally shook his head, and entered the portal. 'I guess I'll have that chat with Grian another-'

He managed a half-dozen steps outside of his portal before he could process the riot of colors out of place around him.

As Joe had said - he and Grian had indeed replaced the glass floor of his base. They replaced the previously black glass with an entire rainbow of colors. Sea lanterns and glowstone placed wherever they could fit beneath the glass lit up the entire base in a bright rainbow glow.

<XISUMA>: What did you do to my base!!?

****

**Author's Note:**

> Writing a different fic and gave myself the prompt for this one:
> 
> #Xisumas base has a void room #airlocked room #X just wants to drink his damned tea in peace   
> #Grian is a little shit #and snoops where he doesnt belong 
> 
> Hope you enjoy, and constructive criticism is always welcome.


End file.
